Timothy Leary by Robert Greenfield A Biography

To a generation in full revolt against any form of authority, "Tune in, turn on, drop out" became a mantra, and its popularizer, Dr. Timothy Leary, a guru. A charismatic and brilliant psychologist, Leary became first intrigued and then obsessed by the effects of psychedelic drugs in the 1960s while teaching at Harvard, where he not only encouraged but instituted their experimental use among students and faculty. What began as research into human consciousness turned into a mission to alter consciousness itself. Leary transformed himself from serious social scientist into counterculture shaman, embodying the idealism and the hedonism of an age of revolutionary change.

Timothy Leary is the first major biography of one of the most controversial figures in postwar America.

Robert Greenfield is the author of a biography of Jerry Garcia and a book about rock impresario Bill Graham, which won a Ralph J. Gleason Award and the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for Excellence. He lives in California.

Unrated Critic Reviews for Timothy Leary

Kirkus Reviews

At Berkeley, Leary did his formative doctoral study and research in clinical psychology, breaking with behaviorism by “classifying social interaction as a game, one which subjects could not only be taught to play but also coached to win.” Constantly at the center of a partying entourage that incl...

The New York Times

In rapid succession, Leary was jailed and released, was left by Rosemary and picked up a new better half, Joanna Harcourt-Smith  whose mother told Leary that her daughter "lived in a dream world where nothing was real"  and wrote a book.